Weights or Bodyweight: The Showdown

Two of the most brutal workouts I have ever been through… One bodyweight, one weighted. Both you will see below.

But first, one of the questions I get asked most often is “Should I do weights or bodyweight workouts?”

Then comes my favorite question… “Or should I do both?”…

Ok, not my favorite question but one that has a 92% success rate for being asked after the first two…

I digress…

When it comes to choosing between weights and bodyweight workouts, we need to look into five main factors. What I call, the Ultimate Showdown.

1. Time.

The #1 excuse I hear for people not working out is, “I don’t have time.” So I am sure you can already guess what’s going to win category number one.

Weights: Unless you have a gym in your house (which I am very jealous of!), you have the task of driving to the gym to workout. For some, just the commute can take an hour especially if there is traffic.

That being said, there are ways around not going to the gym and still working out with weights. You can train with kettlebells, buy some cheap dumbbells for your house, a pull-up bar… and you’ll have a mini gym right at home.

Bodyweight: Being that I have had clients send me videos doing burpees in an airport, it’s safe to say that bodyweight can be done anytime, anywhere, no matter what.

If time is a factor for you, go with bodyweight. You can do it in the morning, on your lunch break, while watching TV, cooking dinner, etc.

And as you will see below, all you need is 9-minutes…

Bodyweight 1, Weights 0

2. Progression

Of course, progression is one of the key aspects to allowing your body to continue to transform. You can’t go into the gym everyday doing the same weight and exercises, and expect different results.

With bodyweight, the progressions are done through exercise variations. For example…

These are the movements that ultimately help get you extremely lean. I’ve found that you don’t need to do all these crazy exercises in order to get super fit.

And for that reason alone, I am going to give the variation category to bodyweight.

With weights, your focus shouldn’t be so much on variety as it should on progressive overload. Focus on getting STRONG on your key lifts and you’ll be happy with your results.

Bodyweight 2, Weights 1.

4. Challenge

When it comes to a successful transformation, challenging your body is a must. Your workouts must be taken to the next level each and every week so that you can continue seeing positive changes.

As we talked about above, both bodyweight and weights offer great progressions and variety. But which one offers more of a challenge?

In most cases, unless you are a gymnast or highly skilled bodyweight ninja, doing challenging movements with just your bodyweight is difficult.

Things like pull-ups, one-armed pushups, pistol squats, etc. take time to really master.

With weights, you can learn to master some of the more difficult moves like squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc. in just a few weeks or even a few days time.

So in terms of challenging your body sooner without doing hundreds of reps on bodyweight exercises, weighted workouts takes this one.

Bodyweight 2, Weights 2.

5. Look-Gooded-Ness

We had to throw this one in because this is what everyone cares about… Yes, your workouts should help you get stronger, leaner, and more fit… But they should also help build the body YOU want.

Both weights and bodyweight workouts can get the job done in this aspect.

YET, it all comes back to what YOU prefer.

Both will help you build a great looking body. What it all comes down to though is preference.

If you are still having trouble deciding, take a look at the workouts below and see which one sounds more appealing to you.

These are two of the toughest leg workouts I have ever been through, one bodyweight and one with weights. Enjoy:

Century Sets: Barbell Squats

Choose Your Weight: If you have been barbell squatting for some time now, choose your own bodyweight for the weight you are using. For example, I am 205 pounds so I will use 205 pounds for the barbell weight.

Workout Goal: Your goal is to complete 100 reps on barbell squats in as little sets as possible. The only catch is that you cannot go passed 20 reps in a single set. So 5 sets of 20 reps would be your best score you can get.

And that’s your workout. Try it and see how it goes. I will warn you now… It’s BRUTAL!

Leg Punisher EXTREME

Perform 20-seconds on 10-seconds squat hold of the exercises below. Repeat two rounds (one-minute) on each exercise before moving to the next. Complete 4-minutes then rest 60-seconds before moving to the next circuit.

Comments

Hey! Good article!!! I do both bodyweight and weightlifting consistently. Do note that I never combine them. I always perform each type separately due to American football.

I think it’s safe for me to say bodyweight is the one I thrive on and enjoy the most despite the benefits you can get from weightlifting. I’m sorta blended ecto/mesomorph (spelling?) so it’s more gentle on my joints and give them strengthening in safe way. I also notice I gain more strength as well as functional strength radically from bw.

One example: before I was introduced to old school bodyweight (tough one compared to doing 1000 standard pushups) I struggle on dumbbell and barbell curls. I could barely put more weight on barbell past 70 pounds but I then learned about progressive pull-ups towards one armed pull-ups and worked on it.

In only a month compared to 4-6 months of barbell curls with different schemes, I gained size in my arms and when I went back to barbell. I easily jumped to 110 pounds after one month off the barbell.

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Hey, I'm Dennis Heenan, the guy behind this website. The Superhuman Life is centered around ways to Be Extraordinary through simple tips, tricks, and Lifehacks. I'm a "tester" by nature and love trying new things so that I can help others. Feel free to email me anytime!